Bat Cats Central returns!

With Kentucky baseball interest at an all-time high, Bat Cats Central returns with the goal of providing subscribers with all-encompassing coverage of the program.

On April 19, the No. 3 ranked Kentucky baseball team defeated No. 2 Tennessee 5-3 in front of a school-record crowd of 6,922 people. That record didn’t make it 24 hours. Over 7,000 people showed up the next day for the second game of the series, and over 6,700 came back for the Sunday finale.

Five of the seven most-attended games in school history have taken place this season. And without question, the record will again be broken during this weekend’s Super Regional matchup against Oregon State — the first-ever Super Regional games played in Lexington.

Kentucky baseball is on fire.

The Wildcats won a share of the SEC regular season championship for just the second time in school history with a program record 22 conference wins. Nick Mingione was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second time. And now Kentucky is two wins away from going to Omaha with a chance to win a national championship.

There’s never been a better time to follow the Kentucky baseball program. That’s why Bat Cats Central is back. This newsletter (and website) will provide all-encompassing coverage of one of the SEC’s best baseball programs over the past few years.

Why subscribe?

Bat Cats Central will provide comprehensive coverage of the Kentucky baseball program. Here are a few of the things subscribers should expect:

• Breaking news. Last summer, Bat Cats Central was the first publication to report that former All-American Austin Cousino was joining the coaching staff and that pitching coach Dan Roszel had agreed to an extension after turning down head coaching opportunities. Subscribers of Bat Cats Central will have the most up-to-date information on the program.

• Fall practice reports. September and October are exciting months for college fans as football is in full swing and basketball is right around the corner, but those two months are also critical in college baseball. Many of the most important position battles take place during the fall. By subscribing to Bat Cats Central, you’ll have the inside track on the biggest questions facing the team and what the solutions might be.

• Roster analysis. Roster turnover is at an all-time high in this era of college athletics. Kentucky continues to build its roster through the high school ranks, but the transfer portal has been a huge part of the turnaround over the past few years. When the Cats pick up a commitment from the portal, we’ll dive into why the staff was attracted to this player, how he fits the program and what expectations should be for the following season.

• Player features. Every player has a unique story, and I plan to profile a few of those on next year’s roster.

• Subscriber mailbags. The frequency of mailbags will depend on the time of year and events around that time, but subscriber-based Q&As will be a regular feature.

What’s the cost?

Bat Cats Central subscriptions can be purchased either monthly or annually. Monthly subscriptions are $5, and annual subscriptions are $40, which is 33% cheaper ($3.33 monthly) than subscribing monthly.

Substack (the newsletter's content management system) also offers a founding member option, which is basically a donation. It allows subscribers to pay more than the listed annual price of a subscription. I will leave this feature available, but in full transparency, I haven’t thought of any extra incentives to provide those subscribers. This option is for people who really like the content and want to pay more than the listed price as an extra show of support for the publication.

Subscribers can expect their first premium newsletter on the morning of June 8.

Will there be free content?

Yes. Most content will be for paid subscribers, but there will still be some free stories. Weekend recaps and any other game coverage will be available for anyone. In addition, the roster tracker feature during the offseason and all of the high school commitment information and scouting reports will be free for everyone.

Thanks for being here!

If this newsletter showed up in your inbox, you made the decision at some point over the past 16 months to join the newsletter for free. I hope that you’ll give me a chance to show why Bat Cats Central is well worth a few dollars a month. If you have any questions, send an email to batcatscentral@substack.com or message me on X (Twitter) @DerekSTerry.

To people who might be coming across the newsletter for the first time or perhaps showing more interest in the baseball program because of its success, here’s a little about me: I’m a former University of Kentucky beat writer for a few places, notably The Cats’ Pause/247Sports.com (2017-22) and Rivals.com/Cats Illustrated (2015-17). I interned at D1baseball.com during my final year at UK, which helped expand my college baseball writing to the Big 10 and other mid-major conferences.

I’m a lifelong Kentucky native and a 2017 graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media. I left full-time sports writing in 2022 to pursue a career outside the field, but I started this newsletter in early 2023 as a passion project to provide more coverage of the baseball program. Stories that I wrote from January to June are still free on the website. This will give you an idea of what to expect, though coverage will expand beyond this.